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Why Reflecting the Communities We Serve Matters
Our Customer Care West Bilingual Team plays a critical role by effectively communicating with our Spanish-speaking customers.
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“Muy buenos días mi nombre es Maggie. Como le puedo ayudar?” This is the warm and friendly greeting customers hear from Maggie Barajas when calling our West customer care center.
“I’m very proud of the work I do. I love to make my Spanish customers feel heard. You call us, and we help.”
--Maggie Barajas
Barajas is a part of the small-but mighty Customer Care bilingual team working with Spanish-speaking customers in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Their efforts provide an invaluable service to those whose first language isn’t English.
Having a dedicated team to effectively communicate with Spanish-speaking customers is more efficient than using a translator, which can be critical in gas-emergency situations.
Barajas was born in Mexicali, Baja California, and moved to Utah in 1993. For nearly 15 years, she has been helping customers by answering questions about their gas service, as well as educating and connecting them with programs that help meet their needs.
“I’m very proud of the work I do. I love to make my Spanish customers feel heard. You call us, and we help.”
Peter Ordaz joined the West bilingual team 10 years ago. Ordaz, who moved to Utah from Southern California, grew up in a household that spoke both English and Spanish — his father from Mexico and his mother from Spain.
“Our team is very proud to help the Spanish-speaking community we serve,” Ordaz said. “I take great pride in providing the best customer experience by listening to the customer’s needs and assisting them with the best-possible solutions.”
“Our team is very proud to help the Spanish-speaking community we serve.”
-Peter Ordaz
"For customers, it’s a friendly voice — someone who speaks their language and understands exactly what they are trying to say."
-Jeremy Arends
Over the years, the team has grown and is now made up of 13 employees led by supervisor Jeremy Arends. Last year, the West Bilingual Team fielded nearly 50,000 calls with Spanish-speaking customers.
With the Hispanic population expected to increase by up to 39% over the next decade (according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah), it is important for customer service colleagues across our footprint to reflect and represent the communities we serve.
“Our team members are subject-matter experts when it comes to Spanish and communicating with our customers in Spanish,” shared Arends. “Utah is growing, and some of the new customers who want to start their service or have questions about gas might have trouble expressing themselves in English.”
Arends believes the team makes a positive impact on their communities. “For customers, it’s a friendly voice — someone who speaks their language and understands exactly what they are trying to say. Like all customers, our Spanish-speaking customers want to feel taken care of when they interact with our agents.
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